


Chilling

by opalmatrix



Category: Saiyuki
Genre: Childhood, Community: Saiyuki_time, Friendship, Gen, Humor, Summer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-06
Updated: 2010-03-06
Packaged: 2017-10-07 18:34:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/67991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/opalmatrix/pseuds/opalmatrix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's no better cure for a stifling summer night than a little monkey business.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chilling

**Author's Note:**

> [**saiyuki_time**](http://community.livejournal.com/saiyuki_time/) challenge #6: Humor. Time given: 50 minutes. Time taken: closer to an hour. I think I need to learn to think in terms of scenes or vignettes rather than stories for these ... . (Written April 2008)

Night lay over the Temple, deep and soft and stiflingly hot. Sanzo wouldn't have been able to fall asleep even if he hadn't been filled to the brim with the day's aggravations: religious arguments, disagreements over trivial issues in Temple administration, useless attempts at being a lecturer for senior novices hardly a year or two younger than himself. Sometimes it just sucked being a 19-year-old Sanzo priest. His face was sweaty, his eyes felt full of sand, and he was thirsty all over again. Cursing, he rolled out of bed and wrapped his nakedness in a short robe. It was easy to find his cigarettes and lighter. He stepped out of his bedroom and into his little sitting room, intending to go out onto the verandah and have a smoke.

"Sanzo?"

Goku was lying on his stomach on his futon in the little window alcove, wearing only a pair of drawstring pants. Sanzo could see the whites of his eyes in the dimness, and the sheen of sweat on the boy's face. "Monkey."

"It's too hot ... " The boy's voice was flat with weariness; the complaint could hardly even count as a whine. "I wish I didn't have to sleep in here."

Sanzo leaned against the wall, which felt marginally cooler than his skin. "Where would you sleep instead?"

Goku rolled over and sat up, looking a little livelier. "I know a real good place! On the shady side of this building, below the verandah, there're some old, twisty trees. It's all dry pine needles under there - it smells good, and it's cooler even in the daytime. I bet it's real nice out there right now."

It sounded like a stupid idea. But it certainly wasn't any more stupid than lying in these oven-like rooms all night. "Goku. You know where the spare grass mats are for the verandah?"

The boy scrambled to his feet, nodding. "Then put on a shirt and go grab a couple. Be sneaky."

Goku grabbed his shirt and scampered off, silently. Sanzo changed into some jeans and a shirt himself, then bundled up his robes and wrapped them in a quilt. When Goku came back, Sanzo nodded at the doorway. Goku grinned, and led the way out.

The moon was half full. It was after midnight, and the Temple was almost silent as they walked around the building. The twisted pine trees were there, below the wall, as Goku had said. He led the way between two of them and then ducked down. Sanzo followed.

The temperature dropped instantly. There was almost a little room in there, like a resin-scented cave. The thick branches blocked out most of the moonlight - likely the sun never really reached there. The ground was inches deep in dry, fallen pine needles. The branches were too low to allow Sanzo to stand, but there was plenty of room to sit up. Sanzo sank down gratefully to sit cross-legged on the soft, cool, sweet-smelling duff. "Hnnn. Not bad."

Goku beamed, expression just visible in the dimness, and hurried to spread out the mats. They fit pretty well, with a couple of feet between them. Goku lay down on his. Sanzo unrolled his bundle and tossed the quilt in the kid's direction. Suddenly, they both froze. Voices drifted down from the verandah.

" ... not that much cooler out here, Rokan."

_Shit._ It was Wayo, one of the most annoying of the youths in his lecture section, a meathead with attitude. And Rokan was even worse: an intelligent toad who seemed to revel in making Sanzo uncomfortable.

"I know what," declared Rokan. "I'll tell you guys a really scary story. That'll chill you right to the marrow."

_Hell. How many are there?_

At least four, from the voices. Rokan started intoning his story in a deep, pompous voice. Sanzo recognized it after the first couple of lines: it was a horrific tale of demonic possession from a popular book that had been banned in the Temple last year. Either Rokan's memory was excellent or he'd kept a copy. It was a pretty long story, too. Sanzo cursed under his breath: he was bored, and dying for a cigarette, but they'd probably smell it.

Goku, on the other hand, seemed to be fascinated by the story. But every so often, as Rokan talked, he'd drop his voice to a low whisper, and then his unseen listeners couldn't hear him. After a few minutes, Sanzo realized that Goku was no longer on his mat. He looked around wildly, and found, to his disgust and amazement, that the boy was halfway up the biggest pine tree.

_How did he so that do quietly? He really is a little ape ... ._ All Sanzo could do was sit quietly, listening and trying to watch Goku. He didn't really want to imagine what these louts would think if they found the holiest priest in the place hiding in the bushes.

Suddenly there was a hideous cracking sound. The branch Goku was balanced on split and broke. Sanzo' s heart seemed to stop. With a shrieking cry, the boy dropped down through the other branches, but caught himself on one of them before he hit the ground.

There was a horrified silence from above. Then a terrified whisper burst forth: _"It's a demon!"_

And four sets of bare feet thudded along the verandah, back toward the dormitory.

After a moment, Goku quietly lowered himself the rest of the way to the ground. Sanzo crawled over to him. "You OK?"

The boy nodded. He seemed to have a number of scratches, though. Sanzo's blood started pounding normally again, and he reached for his fan, but couldn't find it. "Damn you!" he whispered, crossly. "Stupid little demon ... ."

Then he caught his breath, struck dumb for a second. He stared at Goku, and then turned his head slowly to look back up at the verandah. A faint commotion was coming from the direction of the dorm, and the voice of the novice's dormitory master was heard: "Demon, my eye!"

Sanzo covered his face with his hands. His shoulders shook. A muffled gasping and snorting emerged from between his fingers. Goku stared at him, horrified and awestruck. "Sanzo ... ?"

The boy crept forward, fascinated, as the faint noises continued. Finally he dared grab one of Sanzo's wrists and pulled his hand away from his face.

Tears were running down Genjyo Sanzo's face, his eyes were half-shut, his mouth was open - and his lips were curling up at the corners. Goku blinked. Then he started chuckling himself. In a second he had to roll on his stomach and smother his face in the quilt to stifle his laughter. Sanzo took in a deep breath, mastered himself, and cuffed the boy lightly on the shoulder. "Shut up and go to sleep, Monkey-Demon."

Goku looked up and gave him a last cheeky grin, then curled up and was asleep almost instantly. Sanzo lit his cigarette at last. He savored it slowly. The noise from the dormitory died out, and all was quiet, and scented with pine, and almost chilly. He lay down, pulling his robe over himself, and started drifting to sleep effortlessly. Just before blackness took his thoughts. he saw his master's face in his mind's eye. There was a moment of terror as he waited for the nightmare to begin, but Koumyou merely turned in his dream and smiled, then laughed silently. Sanzo felt himself smiling back, and then there was nothing for a long time but deep, soft peace.

***     *** ***


End file.
